Blackguards: a new game available on Steam

A couple of days ago I purchased a copy of this interesting RPG on Steam called Blackguards. I had previously gleamed some interesting tidbits from this game that felt truly mouthwatering or at least slightly exciting. But basically playing dark heroes in a band of misfits appeals to me to a great degree. Probably in part because i have gotten bored with the lawful good protectors that are still the most common RPG troupe characters I believe.

Now I guess its better practice to refrain from giving out too many spoilers but its hard to contain the excitement. You pretty much already start out with a fun pair of characters to assist your player character, an interesting if surly dwarven warrior and a noble wizard who also is a ladies man par excellence. These two really do liven up the game. Or at least the earlier parts which I have experienced so far.

A town in Blackguards. All you need in one screen with one click.

I must also say that the graphics are quite interesting. The game doesn't replicate the whole landscape in 3d and instead has a 2d map with some interesting effects upon which your party travels. At first it felt rather cheap but it has grown on me since. This should allow the developers to add more drama and story-lines into the game without having to create lots of 3d environments.

All in all this games bodes good but since its not finished there is no way anyone can express a very lasting judgement on it. Nonetheless I recommend you try it.

Darklands

Somewhat recently the ancient Microprose game Darklands was re-released on Gog and I simply must start by absolutely recommending it to anyone interested in rpgs, history or anything similar.

As a kid I remember seeing advertisements for this game in Microprose brochures and I even once saw the box in a store. But I must confess that I never played it at the time.

The boxart. Powerful but doesn't look extremely historically accurate.

Since I have had the opportunity now to play it at last it has dawned on me that this game would have had massive impact on me at the time. Because quite simply its very very entertaining and good. And despite the cover which has a very fantasy-esque  painting on it, the game itself tries to maintain a historical look.

Bandits. These guys wouldn't look very much out of place in 15th century Germany. 

There are some things that do bother me, but are completely understandable considering when it was released. Mostly its the treatment of weapons and armour which is pretty much lifted from Dungeons & Dragons. The longsword is for example a single handed weapon in the game, whereas in history it was really a hand- and a half weapon and really only used one handed on horseback. The game also includes studded leather armour as well as brigandine armour, which in reality is the one and the same armour type.

 Isometric real time battles.

Battles are exciting and fairly fast paced in real time and you can pause it with the spacebar to issue orders or to ponder the situation just like in Baldur's Gate.

Darklands does also have a fantastical element to it, at least according to modern science, since the game has saints to pray to and various monsters and creatures we wouldn't normally consider part of earth's fauna these days.

Germany is quite big.

The game is also quite mysterious. You gather a party of heroes to wander out and adventure all over medieval Germany. Fighting bandits, monsters, robber knights or city guards to gain fame or infamy, riches and equipment. There is probably some great plot going on, but it will take some time to uncover it. This is a thinking persons game in many ways.

Gameplay: 10
Story: 7-?
Mystery level: ?

Wing Commander: Chris Roberts' first game

I must admit that I am quite intrigued by this new game called Star Citizen Chris Roberts is developing these days. But since its not available as of now I decided to check out some of his older games. Actually I'll just revisit his first game Wing Commander.

Now since my old floppy disks are long since lost or destroyed it was very fortunate that Good old games have made this "ancient piece of history" available and for a very affordable price indeed. Also luckily enough the game actually works without any changes to the BIOS or memory allocations.

The game is of course very old fashioned by modern standards, but nonetheless it was very advanced at the time. Now that doesn't really detract from the game since that in itself is a real attraction for anyone with a slight fascination with the past or old fashioned things.

You start out as a rookie fighter pilot on the TCS Tigers Claw, a Bengal class strike carrier. Sounds rather awe-inspiring doesn't it?
The enemy are the menacing Kilrathi: a warlike, giant cat race that is bent on exterminating humanity.

The campaign is dynamic. If you fail to successfully clear a mission it goes on your log and it will affect your future missions. This is a standard many modern games fail to live up to.

The battles are quite furious and immersive. This is truly a game for someone interested in honing his fighting skills and each hard-won victory is truly rewarding. I have managed to forget my schedule playing this game more than once or twice, far too often actually. Maybe that would be a detraction for some, but probably not for old-school gamers.

All in all I must say that I am very pleased for having dug up this old gem. Maybe its time to have a look at some more ancient friends in the near future.

Gameplay: 8

Story: 7

Nostalgia Factor: 9000

A Viking lifestyle: Religion

Quite a lot of people are miserable in this day and age, depression, anxiety and general lack of real happiness are rampant.

Now this wasn't always so and there are indeed rather simple ways to turn your brain around to achieve the general feel of well-being and happiness. And since people weren't so miserable in the past why not take a good look at how our ancestors, the vikings, lived their lives. (Of course if your are Asian, African or from some other place, your ancestors may or may not be vikings. But bear with me please.)

Instead of a paternalistic all-perfect all-knowing and all-capable single god, the vikings worshiped quite a lot of deities, demi-gods, spirits and mystical creatures. They weren't really afraid of their gods and looked at their dealings with these beings as simple exchanges. Not that dissimilar from our modern free-market. You buy a hamburger for a few dollars or you buy good weather for raiding with a lamb. No commandments, no fear of enraging your all-knowing deity who will send you to a really really bad place.

In modern society its impossible to live up the impossible demands the monotheistic religions requires of you unless you wish to brave chambers of infinite torture or worse. We need the old polytheistic attitude that a free man makes his own destiny. 

Instead of commandments the Vikings had guidelines all which served to remind them of what really kept them happy and alive: Honor, family and friends. These guidelines are pretty much common sense in its entirety but are nonetheless a great reminder.

My favorite:

Cattle die, kindred die, 

Every man is mortal:

But the good name never dies 

Of one who has done well 

Starts as a sad reminder but ends with a truly refreshing fact.